Gladiators legend grows 50 years on from the day St George clashed with Wests in the 1963 grand final

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THE photo hangs the only way it should hang in an office at Arthur Summons' home. It hangs proudly.

It was given to Summons shortly after he and Norm Provan came together like a thousand footballers have before but, in one of those miracles of time and circumstance, photographer John O’Gready pressed his finger on the shutter button and a legend was born, a friendship created.

“It’s hit home now,” Summons said.

“That we have been made the trophy, it’s beyond comprehension and it’s sad, if you think about it, that John O’Gready isn’t here to enjoy the moment with us.

“Without him taking it ... it humbles me on the basis that he was the man who worked his arse off, basically in a suit and tie in the bog ... it’s incredible the whole scenario.”

GladiatorsSource:DailyTelegraph

It is 50 years since O’Gready took the photo that has turned into the trophy that will be awarded to the NRL premiers this Sunday which, as Summons said, will now forever be called the Provan-Summons Trophy.

Summons, 77, has no idea how much fortune did smile that day.

O’Gready was working for The Sun-Herald, the grand final being a Saturday, and when he filed his photos nobody thought it was good enough to publish.

It wasn’t until the following day when a sub-editor came across it, looking for fresh pictures for Monday’s paper, that he picked it out of the tray and gave it a run.

1963 grand finalSource:Supplied

Called “The Gladiators”, its impact was immediate, and changed Summons and Provan's life.

While controversy forever taints that grand final, with rumours that refuse to die on how referee Darcy Lawler had heavily backed St George, what remains is the most iconic image in Australian sport.

Summons played only one more season at Western Suburbs, just his fifth in all, and had his contract bought out by Wagga, back when country clubs could do those things.